CICERI E TRIA Chickpea and pasta

Its name is a piece of history: the substantive trya has Arabian origins, no less. It goes on to exist in Sicily and comes from itrya, meaning dried pasta. In fact, a homemade dried sheet of pastry prepared with semolina is the basis of this dish.

The taste of it depends on the chickpeas, both for their quality (the best and most extraordinary hickpeas grew on the Salento’s floodplains, among the alberello (head trained) grapevines, especially in the area near Nardò), and for the cooking (it would be made strictly in an earthenware pot).

In any case this dish, a bit watery (but it is not a soup), is very original. The crackling little pieces of tria fried in some very hot oil assure a special touch to this dish: in fact, they are scattered on the steaming hot meal.

This dish, as much as all those having an old origin, has many versions (some people prefer to use some garlic instead of the onion, some add fried crumbs or little piece of bread, and others add salted anchovies), even if its traditional recipe assures a full and delicate taste, that is unique because of its simplicity and digestibility.

TURCINIEDDHRI Lamb Offal Roulade

The hardest test for a cook from Salento is to roast the turcinieddhri (lamb offal roulade) perfectly.

It must be clear that they have to be strictly barbecued or in a wood-burning oven. The turcinieddhri are pieces of lamb or kid offal, wrapped with the intestines

of the same animals.

Cooking the turcinieddhri is a sort of art, since they must have an appetizing colour, like caramel and without scorching, that would make them bitter, and consequently with a ghastly taste. Here in Salento, the turcinieddhri have several names, varying from village to village, even if the dishes are quite simialr. Here’s some examples: mboti,nturtigghiati, mbrigghiatieddhri, and so on.

An interesting detail: once, the original turcinieddhri made according to the recipe from Salento were heavier even than two kilos and at least two lamb offal were required. Today, they are very rare, superseded by the smaller ones, that are as good as the others, but easier and more practical to barbecue.

MUERSI A CECAMARITI - Salento style soup

Even if its appearance can mislead, this soup from Salento is an unexpected delicacy. The pisieddhri cu li muersi (peas with fried pieces of bread) or muersi a cecamariti (fried pieces of bread to fool husbands) is a peasant meal prepared with dried peas, preferably cooked at the fireplace.

To make this soup more nourishing, the housewives used to reutilize some stale bread, that was cut in little pieces and fried in oil until it got a golden, almost burnt, colour. Then this fried bread was put into the dish, where the pea soup was ladled.

This is the story of this dish, with all its versions made in compliance with the seasons; in winter it could be mixed with stewed vegetables, generally turnip greens or chicories; with fried peppers in summer. The odd name of this mealis due to the fact that, in spite of its easy preparation (in the past in fact leftovers were used as ingredients for it), it is thought to be a difficult dish. Therefore, husbands could be easily fooled into thinking their wives spent a lot more time cooking this dish than they actually did.